Mather Group LLC. Sells 5,555 Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Mather Group LLC. lessened its holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 6.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 86,759 shares of the software giant's stock after selling 5,555 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC.'s holdings in Microsoft were worth $32,569,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Microsoft by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 684,071,705 shares of the software giant's stock worth $288,336,224,000 after acquiring an additional 10,431,988 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 168,128,024 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $70,720,874,000 after acquiring an additional 3,103,212 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Microsoft during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,343,058,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 83,787,746 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $35,316,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Microsoft by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 59,961,337 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $25,273,704,000 after acquiring an additional 5,370,546 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.13% of the company's stock.

Microsoft Stock Performance

Shares of Microsoft stock opened at $522.48 on Friday. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $501.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $440.51. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $344.79 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market cap of $3.88 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.06.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The software giant reported $3.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.35 by $0.30. Microsoft had a return on equity of 32.44% and a net margin of 36.15%. The company had revenue of $76.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.95 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Microsoft Corporation will post 13.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.83 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $3.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Microsoft's payout ratio is presently 24.34%.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Kathleen T. Hogan sold 21,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $453.77, for a total transaction of $9,756,055.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 134,888 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,208,127.76. The trade was a 13.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,850 shares of Microsoft stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $527.32, for a total value of $2,557,502.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,624,012.52. This trade represents a 11.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 46,350 shares of company stock worth $21,493,447. Insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MSFT shares. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Microsoft from $525.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Westpark Capital restated a "hold" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Microsoft from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on Microsoft from $581.00 to $639.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $609.86.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.

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